all gravyno boat

I'm participating in the Hustle Up the Hancock stair climb on February 25th. Right now I'm training by pumping stairs at work during the 3 o'clock hour when I want to start to nod off. It's been a great way to refocus and re-energize. I've also transitioned to exclusively using a standing desk at my day job to improve my posture, which also helps me stay alert and more engaged in my work! Lately I've been doing a lot of heavy coding projects and data loads, so anything to keep me sharp for that is a win.

If you would like to donate to my campaign, you can do that here. This event is a legendary Chicago tradition and I can't wait to join the ranks of accomplished Chi-Town climbers. I'm already looking forward to doing the full climb, 94 flights, next year! I appreciate your support in advance.

This year I am focused on work/life balance. My Q4 last year was crazed with puppetry rehearsal & touring, day job project launches, spending a week in NY with the in-laws, Tamale day and spending time with my family for the holidays. This year I'm going to try blacking out out my schedule from Halloween to NYE to give me plenty of time to unwind, evaluate this year's progress, plan for the following year and enjoy the holidays with my friends and family.

I'm also going to try to update this more often. I know I've been radio silencing for a while on my website and social media outlets; to be honest, I got really sick and tired of everything related to the internet. I keep hearing how "maintaining an internet presence is the key to 'making it'" - to which I say, PISH POSH! I am a test case for putting forth the most minuscule amount of social media effort and still having a successful career.

I don't believe our online profiles tell the whole story, getting on the phone with someone or meeting for a cup of tea does. I've been able to embrace the latter to the fullest extent since I abandoned my personal Facebook account summer 2014. I joined instagram in late fall last year to promote our Baltimore X Chicago tour, and it's been weird being back on social media as a personal contributor. I enjoy my private life, I prefer to stay low-key. So what I'm saying is that this is all a big deal for me to put forth this level of effort - but I'm doing it because my platform is growing, whether I want to keep up with it or not. So instead of feeling like I can't catch up to the expectations others have set forth for me, and thank you for that BTW it keeps me on my toes, I'm going to try hard at getting in front of it and delivering you the content you've so kindly requested, or have successfully fooled me into thinking you have.